When is peak fall color at Box-Death Hollow Wilderness?

Our forecast puts peak color at Box-Death Hollow Wilderness around 16 Oct. The four days to aim for are 15 to 18 Oct. We publish our error rate.

Box-Death Hollow Wilderness Fall Foliage: 2026 Peak Color Forecast

Q: What trees turn color at Box-Death Hollow Wilderness?

Quaking Aspen, Bigtooth Maple, Gambel Oak, Narrowleaf Cottonwood, Rocky Mountain Maple. Utah's fall is a dual show: aspens turn gold on the high plateaus while bigtooth maples along the Wasatch Front go vivid scarlet, creating one of the most colorful mountain fronts in the West.

Peak color16 OctAim for 15 to 18 Oct

In the wilderness today, Sep 25Starting to turn

Higher ground turns first, so the slopes above the road lead the valley by a few days.

No new reports from the ground here this week.

Still greenStartingNearly peakPeakPast peakNo fall canopy we forecastInside the line, each band of elevation is painted on its own date.

Around Box-Death Hollow Wilderness Nearly all of the wilderness is in Garfield County, which is nearly peak today. That’s the county as a whole, which peaks 19 days earlier than the wilderness’s own stands: the wilderness is starting to turn.

By elevation The wilderness runs from about 6,509 to 8,527 feet. That’s 15 days of season between the top and the bottom: the high stands peak around Oct 2, the low ground holds until about Oct 17, and the color comes downhill in between. The date at the top of this page is the 6,000 to 6,500 foot band.

8,500–9,000 ftNearly peakpeak Oct 25%
8,000–8,500 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 610%
7,500–8,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 822%
7,000–7,500 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1128%
6,500–7,000 ftStarting to turnpeak Oct 1531%
6,000–6,500 ftStill greenpeak Oct 175%

Height off 3DEP inside the wilderness’s own boundary; each band carries the date our model gives that elevation, corrections and all. The percentage is how much of the wilderness stands in it.

That’s 2 days later than our model alone would say. This September has been running warm, which shifts peak color.

Plan this trip

If you can only come on certain days

Set the days you can be here. Everything under them answers for those days, not for peak.

ArrivingLeaving

Thursday 15 October to Friday 16 October

You’ll find it just past peak up high, peak color lower down.

Up at 8,000 feet the stands peak around Oct 6; down at 7,000 feet they hold on until about Oct 15. Pick your elevation for the day you come.

8,000–8,500 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 6
7,500–8,000 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 8
7,000–7,500 ftJust past peakpeak Oct 11
6,500–7,000 ftPeak colorpeak Oct 15

Where to drive: Boulder Mountain (UT 12), about 13 miles · Fish Lake Scenic Byway (UT 25), about 45 miles · Nebo Loop, about 135 miles
What turns: quaking aspen, Gambel oak, bigtooth maple, serviceberry

What turns, and when

quaking aspen39%
Gambel oak32%
bigtooth maple15%
serviceberry15%

Also named across Utah, outside what the canopy read measures here: Narrowleaf Cottonwood, Rocky Mountain Maple.

Utah's fall is a dual show: aspens turn gold on the high plateaus while bigtooth maples along the Wasatch Front go vivid scarlet, creating one of the most colorful mountain fronts in the West.

This forecast is built from the species that stand here, their elevation and this September’s weather, and corrected in season by cameras, foresters and our own crew. Out here we score it against NASA's satellite record of when the canopy shuts down, read inside each unit’s own boundary: two dates in three land within 12 days of it. How this map is made

All of Utah